… all things a faithful Republican Party could have helped him with, if they weren’t busy weaving a million dollars of Scozzafava campaign money into a noose for themselves.

Doc, you can really turn a phrase.

I agree that the problem with the direction of the Republican Party lies with the leadership. But the real enemy of conservatives is statist lefty’s. We have met the enemy and he is us? Not so much. He is them.

As the NY-23 race showed, it’s better to defeat the Republican left from within the party, rather than give the Democrats ringside seats at a Conservatives vs. Republicans smackdown.

That’s one of the many problems with the Republican Party, “defeat(ing) the Republican left from within the party” NEVER happens, if it did, the Republicans wouldn’t be watching the Party divide over the rinos.

Since that time, I’ve organized two Tea Parties and several protests and have urged those great attendees to join their local committee and when there was a critical vote about how to allocate funds to a candidate right before the election, we Tea Partiers were just one vote short.

Meaning, we’ve nearly taken over the committee since April.
We’re about to add a few more tea partiers and some of the old faithful have stopped showing up.

That’s where you meet the candidates face to face, make funding decisions, platform decisions, etc. I now know my delegate pretty well, my state senator, our new Atty Gen., and to a lesser degree our Lt. Gov. and Governor, Bob McDonnell. I feel that if I have an issue I can approach any of them directly, which is a first for me.

Beats sitting home, screaming at the TV or computer screen, although that’s fun, too.

Mend it, don’t end it, folks.

Even last year, Senator Saxby Chambliss was forced into a runoff because a Libertarian candidate got 3% of the vote, and held Chambliss to slightly below 50% of the total votes cast.

We need to face facts–a third-party run from the Right benefits the Left, by draining away part of the conservative “base” while scaring Independent voters toward the Democrats.

If conservatives want to take power in government, they must do what Reagan did–start by establishing a strong conservative platform within the existing Republican party, then explain them to independent voters as a common-sense solution for America’s problems. Reagan had a rare gift for making conservative principles seem like common sense, and make people comfortable with them.

Conservative commentators like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are good at pointing out the weaknesses of liberal policy, and rallying the “base” around an alternative, but they could never win elective office.

In 2006, when Republicans lost Congress, one principled conservative Republican challenged a corrupt Republican incumbent in a primary, won the primary and then the general election: Sarah Palin.

Whether she has what it takes to win the Presidency remains to be seen, but her method is correct. At least in Alaska, she did what Reagan did, which is what a conservative needs to do in 2012.

Dr. Z’s picking that up from the media offensive the RNC is running against the theft of our money and rights.

Or maybe his proof is the Unemployment Extension bill; an unfunded mandate on States, most already in the red, that immediately will raise taxes on all business nationwide. Vote 98-0-1. That’s showing ‘em!

The GOP is dead. They’re embarrassed to be capitalists and embarrassed to defend our Constitution.

In the end they may be fixed but only by heavy attrition of the current membership. That won’t come without some virtual blood spilling. Playing their Big Tent game is playing to lose.

America has to DECREASE power in Washington. No one in Washington today of either party can be trusted to do the work that has to be done.

But I really love Glenn Beck, third party or not.

It’s up to the Republican Party. Will they listen to Palin? If they don’t, Glenn will then be a threat.

If they do, Glenn can comfortably return again to Republican Party.

“The Republicans have improved their game considerably since the dark days of 2006,…”

I disagree w/that statement totally, Doc Z. The GOP of 11/7/06 and 11/4/08 remains. While I agree that the Republican Party is “fixable”, they are doing little to self analyze themselves and pinpoint the essence of the problem they have. They’re in denial about it and spend 100% of their time attacking the left. Telling us what we already know about them. Rather than trying to “pull the log out of their own eye…”. The threat of a 3rd party brings teeth to the negotiations and may, indeed, save the Republican Party.

Additionally, I’m not as certain as you that the democrat party can survive or is repairable. They have moved too far left. And a new party may be needed to take the place of this dying democrat party. Darvin Dowdy

All other issues are secondary to being alive and treating life, all life, with the dignity that nature’s God gave it!

There does, however, exist a different concept of a third party and it is one that takes some understanding but comes under the title of: Kingmaker.

A Kingmaker third-party is not a majority, but strong minorty party that cannot be easily dislodged. Such a party need only hold 10-15% of the seats in a legislative body with the rest being about equally divided between two major parties. When the two parties come into deadlock, the Kingmaker decides the day by either getting the legislation changed to its liking, or just voting ‘Present’ as it does NOT have to put forward an all-encompassing platform for the Nation nor even one word of legislation on its own. By being an internal veto power, the other two parties must either try to subvert members of the third party, which is hard to do since they all run on a tight an uniform platform, or they must try to ‘take away’ those platform planks by ADOPTING THEM and SUPPORTING THEM, or the two parties coalesce into a single party and those dissatisfied with that course of affairs has a viable option and opposition to turn to.

Truly, if you don’t think outside the two party box, the ways that a third party can work are stuck in an unworkable paradigm structure that discounts a third party as its basis for consideration. If you ask one simple question the type of answer you get becomes clearer: what can a third party do, and what does it need to do that?

You don’t need to start off at 43%, and the two parties have so rigged the system that you CAN’T do that easily. Fighting entrenchment wars inside an established party (like the PUMAs did during 2008) becomes an alienating affair as the party elites over-rule the peons. Thus reforming a corrupt party is much harder than taking an outside position that is intellectually, morally and ethically consistent and taking up a small but significant minorty position to get a coherent platform enacted via stopping legislation and supporting legislation that curbs the avenues for abuse within the legislative structure.

Take a look at the 30-40 ‘swing’ seats in the House. Imagine capturing a portion of those, and perhaps some un-safe two-party districts that are at odds with their Representatives and tell me just how those votes would NOT be in a position to stop legislation with neither party in majorit status?

Similarly 5 to 7 Senators in the upper body. Would that have NOT made a difference with one vote ‘majorities’ then turning into pluralities and needing those 5 to 7 to get ANYTHING passed? Plus you would stop having 97/98/99/100 to 0 laws passed, and even a minority can demonstrate that no law should have unanimous backing no matter how ‘good’ it is for the bureaucracy…and for ‘bi-partisanship’.

I would support a party like that, made up around the restrictive government platform and voting to keep expansive government legislative in check… and denying it a majority at all costs. It would be a hard party to make, formulate and need constant, ongoing work… but that is what republics are made of. Hard work.

If the Party won’t go conservative on their own, then the people of the country can do it as long as the real conservatives are identified and brought into the light. An excellent example of this is the Florida Senate race between Crist and Rubio. Crist immediately got the endorsement of the RNC due to his RINO/career politician status. Little known Rubio is gaining fast on Crist without spending any money purely as a result of grassroots conservatives beginning to ban together. If Palin and Beck endorse Rubio, Crist is done.

In my opinion, this is the best of both worlds without having to organize a third party and ensure more Democrat wins.

What (he/she?) said.

Anyone see any of the liberal journalists or other Democrats saying how stupid this 3rd party idea is? No, they love it. Split the Republicans in two and the Democrats will win every time.

A Third Party wrapped up in a messy divorce from the GOP would not be in a stronger position to do either of those things.

I’ve been saying this for years, but no longer. It’s like trying to make new bread, using old starter. It looks fresh, but it ends up just as sour as the old stuff.

We just had a “sourdough” candidate for president, and it got us a one-way ticket to national second-class status.

NO MORE!!!!

No Ross Perot split!

You see, conservsatives were KICKED to the curb by McCain, the man who is todays leader of the GOP, and who continues to set his attack dogs on Sarah. This is why Conservatives in America today ARE the Third Party, and our movement is strong, and continues to gain momentum.

Sarah is perhaps THE political leader of the conservative movement, and as she works to get more conservatives elected to Congress she will in fact be seting the stage for a total shake-up of the Republican Party.

Right now the problem to be overcome is dealing with the naysayers who are working hand in hand to keep down the conservative movement. Those people will realize that they are about to become members of the lost in the desert Liberal Republican party … if they don’t wake up pretty soon.

McCain is begining to see that as he now faces a tough re-election battle. IMHO, he will lose.

Did NOT make government smaller, and in fact presided over the largest expansion of the Government in American History (DHS).

Did NOT get our of Education, but put more Federal Strings on it.

Gave us the Blatantly UnConstitutional McCain Feingold…

Attempted to force Illegal Alien Amnesty…

Funny you bring up freeing the Slaves… as the Republican party did help do that… it was right after they REPLACED the Whigs.

Romeo13 on November 23, 2009 at 10:29 PM

Wrong, that would be FDR’s new deal and LBJ’s war on poverty, both democrats.

Wrong, look at the voting records of democrats in the 60′s as democrats voted NO, including Al Gore’s father, on civil rights and the democrat party officially started as the “SEIU strong arm” of the KKK. See Bob KKK Byrd.

GnuBreed on November 23, 2009 at 11:49 PM

Sage insight indeed!!